What is organisational behaviour? Flashcards
Organisation
An organisation is a consciously coordinated unit of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
Organisational behaviour
A field os study that investigates the impact individuals, group, and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organisation’s effectiveness.
Systematic study
Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.
Evidence based management (EBM)
The basing of managerial decisions on the best available evidence.
Intuition
A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research.
Psychology
The science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behaviour of humans and other animals.
Social psychology
An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.
Sociology
The study of people in relation to their social, environment or culture.
Anthropology
The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Contingency variable
Situational factors: variable that moderate the relationship between two or more variables.
Workforce diversity
The concept that organisations are becoming more heterogenous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and inclusion of other diverse groups.
Positive organisational scholarship
An area of OB research that concerns how organisations develop human strength, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
Model
A simplified representation of some real world phenomenon.
Dependent variable
A response that is affected by and independent variable.
Productivity
A performance measure that includes effectiveness and efficiency.
Effectiveness
Achievement of goals.
Effeiciency
The ratio of effective output to the input required to achieve it.
Absenteeism
The failure to report to work.
Turnover
Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organisation.
Deviant workplace behaviour
Voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well - being of the organisation or its members.
Organisational citizenship behaviour
Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organisation.
Job satisfaction
A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.
Independent variable
The presumed cause of change in some dependent variable.
